Jindal files countersuit against CC supporters

BATON ROUGE - Governor Bobby Jindal's administration filed a countersuit Tuesday against supporters of Common Core in the ongoing political firefight over who controls the state's education system.

Jindal's countersuit seeks to invalidate the Memorandum of Understanding filed with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC. The suit claims that the PARCC deal gives control of the state's education system to the group of other states which organized the Common Core movement, which goes against the state's sovereignty in education.

"By its clear terms, the PARCC MOU purports to commit the development of Louisiana education policy to a private non-Louisiana entity controlled by a 'Governing Board' consisting of individuals who are completely unaccountable to Louisiana voters," said Jimmy Faircloth, the Jindal administration's outside counsel.

Superintendent of Education John White said the lawsuit was pointless because the Memorandum of Understanding ends in September. The state would then have to find a new partner to administer the PARCC test.

Supporters of Common Core originally filed suit against the governor because they argued he overstepped his executive authority trying to stop Common Core in the state.

BESE voted Tuesday to join that lawsuit, and the Jindal administration announced the countersuit shortly after that decision was made.

Jindal originally supported Common Core, saying it would bring tougher education standards to the state. He recently joined national conservative opposition to the standards and claimed it was a federal intrusion on state education, even though Common Core was conceived and organized by a group of states.